Wal-Mart considers expanding healthcare services at its clinics

Retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is exploring ways to expand the kinds of healthcare services it offers at dozens of stores across the country, potentially setting the stage to turn the nation's largest retailer into a major primary care service provider and drive down costs for millions of Americans. The Arkansas retail giant is looking to partner with outside healthcare companies to treat and manage a range of serious medical conditions—including HIV, diabetes, arthritis and clinical depression—at 140 store clinics nationwide. Any expansion of the retailer's clinics would come as millions of Americans prepare to gain health insurance in 2014 under President Obama's healthcare overhaul, which will provide government subsidies to people who otherwise could not afford coverage.